A. ‘He who is in the shrine’ means an enlightened person, or a monastic. ‘He who is in the shrine’ here represents the former who is in the state of Emptiness, the Pure land, that is, one who can see and hear everything as it is without being deluded by images and words, and who is not swayed by affairs of the mundane world since he sees them as empty as if he saw rabbit horns.
Masters sometimes scold their students for being deluded by images and words by saying, “Why do you live in a marketplace whilst eating meals in the shrine?” In this case, he who is in the shrine implies just a monastic.
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©Boo Ahm
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